2015 College of Law Commencement

College of Law Welcomes William Brodsky ’65, L’68 as Commencement Speaker May 8

William Brodsky will serve as Commencement speaker for the College of Law at its graduation exercises Friday, May 8, at 1 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.

As chairman and CEO of the Chicago Board Options Exchange, 1997- 2013, Mr. Brodsky led the world’s largest options exchange and creator of listed options. He oversaw a period of tremendous growth and product innovation, as well as the successful transformation of CBOE’s traditional market model into a world-class hybrid trading system. Brodsky continues to be the options industry’s leading advocate in shaping market policy and regulation.

Brodsky guided CBOE through its demutualization, where the exchange converted its business model from a membership organization to a for-profit public corporation. The long-awaited IPO of CBOE Holdings, Inc. was announced in June 2010. Brodsky announced his retirement in May, 2013, when he became executive chairman (Term to expire after CBOE’s annual meeting, May 22, 2014).

Between 1985 and 1997, Bill was the president and CEO of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Previously he had been an executive VP of the American Stock Exchange.

Brodsky began his career as an attorney in the securities industry with the investment banking/ brokerage firm Model, Roland & Co. in 1968, where his father was a managing director.

In 1974 he joined the American Stock Exchange. Brodsky became head of options trading in 1976, helping to design AMEX’s first options contracts. He served as EVP-Operations, 1979-82.

Brodsky joined the Chicago Merc (CME) in 1982 as EVP and COO. Named president and CEO by 1985 he was recognized as one of the first top executives of a futures exchange to come from the securities business. He oversaw the launch of the CME Globex trading system and played a pivotal role in the development and globalization of stock index futures.